{Disclaimer: not paid to do this, didn’t receive anything, and Samaritan’s Purse has no idea who I am}

This year as we settle into the holiday season, the thoughts of giving back always enter my mind, and then stay there, nagging at me. It’s so easy to get too busy, to wrapped up in planning, cooking, family, shopping. So much to do that it makes it easy to “forget” doing something kind for those who truly need it.

I’m not judging – I’m admitting. I’m not the greatest with this kind of stuff, and it bothers me. I know what it’s like in other countries for kids, I’ve seen in when I lived in India.

This year, Bella is old enough to start to be aware of the Christmas story, Santa, the holiday season – and also part of starting a tradition with helping others in the world who don’t wake up to a perfect tree piled with presents for them.

I thought about what to start with her, something we could carry on from year to year, that wasn’t just a drop off and then wondering who got the toy and where. Nothing wrong with those, we still do that. I just wanted something more personal. So I turned to Samaritan’s Purse, an organization that sponsors Operation Christmas Child (sometimes known as the Operation Shoebox). They take boxes or plastic bins stuffed full of toys for a child of a certain age range/gender that you choose, and send them to all corners of the earth. Drop offs are all over the US, and the donation to cover shipping is only $7. But one of the coolest parts?

You can track your box. So that means you’ll know where it ended up and just what they did when it arrived.

So this weekend, take a few moments to stop at Target or WalMart, and grab some items a child in another country might love. Take a moment to look at how much we have and how with just a tiny percent of that we could change an entire holiday for a little one worlds away.